AG Seeks Supreme Court’s Permission To Appeal Educational Adequacy Decision

As anticipated, Attorney General George Jepsen today filed a petition with the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court seeking her permission to immediately appeal the recent trial court decision in the CCJEF v. Rell case. The decision holds that much of Connecticut’s elementary and secondary school funding and teacher evaluation policies are unconstitutional. Click here for CT News Junkie’s story.

The Attorney General filed the petition under General Statutes § 52-265a, which authorizes the Chief Justice to permit an immediate appeal in cases that involve “a matter of substantial public interest and in which delay may work a substantial injustice.” If any case meets that standard, this one does. Although the Chief Justice is not required to grant the petition, I expect that she will.

The petition also requests a “reasonable” (i.e. expedited?) schedule for briefing and oral argument, as well as a stay of the trial court’s order giving the General Assembly 180 days to propose solutions to the constitutional deficiencies the court identified. I expect the Supreme Court will grant those requests as well.